CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rxts
Joe
Joe

Reputation: 369

Convert a list of strings to a list of symbols that represent variables

I have a list of strings that represent xts object names in the global environment. How can i convert the list of strings into a list of names to be formatted properly to insert into a do.call function? That way the function merges the xts objects, rather than just the names of strings.

xtsNames <- list("name1", "name2", "name3")

name1 <- xts(x=1:10, order.by=Sys.Date()-1:10)
name2 <- xts(x=11:20, order.by=Sys.Date()-11:20)
name3 <- xts(x=21:30, order.by=Sys.Date()-21:30)


as.name(xtsNames) # this code fails because it does not work on a list

NewData <- do.call(rbind, xtsNames) # this code merges the strings, rather 
                                    # than the xts objects

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1242

Answers (2)

PKumar
PKumar

Reputation: 11128

I am not sure if I completely understood your question, but you may want to use 'get' over here.

do.call('rbind',lapply(xtsNames, get))

On a side note: To understand 'get', suppose x <- 2, then if you pass, get('x') on the console, you will get 2 as value returned.

?get:

Search by name for an object (get) or zero or more objects (mget).

This will return some of the rows like below:

> do.call('rbind',lapply(xtsNames, get))
           [,1]
2018-09-27   30
2018-09-28   29
2018-09-29   28
2018-09-30   27
2018-10-01   26
2018-10-02   25
2018-10-03   24

Upvotes: 3

Artem Sokolov
Artem Sokolov

Reputation: 13731

You can use the rlang package to convert strings of variable names to actual symbols:

do.call( rbind, rlang::syms(xtsNames) )

If you want just base R, then it can be done using lapply:

do.call( rbind, lapply(xtsNames, as.name) )

Upvotes: 3

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